Republican Congressman Paul Davis Ryan has represented
Wisconsin's first House district since 1999, and in his sixth term he
began to emerge as the new face of the Republican Party. Despite the
heavily Democratic demographic of his home district, Ryan ran as a
conservative in 1998 and won, beating the Democratic favorite by 15
percentage points. Before running for Congress, Ryan worked for several
conservatives, including Sen. Sam Brownback and former housing secretary
Jack Kemp. In 2009, Ryan offered conservative alternatives to both the
2010 Democratic Budget and Obama's health care reform plan.

Ryan on Five Major Issues:

Abortion: Has a 100 percent voting record with the National
Right to Life Committee. Voted against allowing embryonic stem cell
research. Voted against the transportation of minors across state lines
for abortions. Voted against partial birth abortions except to save a
mother's life.

Immigration: Voted in favor of building a fence along the
Mexican border. Voted in favor of extending Immigrant Residency rules.
Voted in favor of comprehensive immigration reform without amnesty.

Civil Rights: Voted in favor of prohibiting job
discrimination based on sexual orientation. Voted to protect the pledge
of allegiance. Has expressed support for an amendment to ban flag
desecration.

Families: Voted to ban gay adoptions in Washington. Voted to
constitutionally define marriage as between one man and one woman. Voted
to reduce the Marriage Tax by $399 billion over 10 years. Voted to
establish a nationwide AMBER alert system for missing children.

Gun Control: Has an "A" rating by the National Rifle
Association. In 1999, he voted to decrease gun waiting periods from
three days to one. Voted to prevent gun makers, gun manufacturers and
gun sellers from being sued for gun misuse.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Today's survey asked both the
general question of whether voters in the swing states of Colorado,
Wisconsin, and Virginia want gun laws to be more strict, less strict, or
kept the same; AND the specific question of whether those voters
support a ban on high-capacity magazines, which have been used in
several recent mass shootings.

The results show that while Americans may not support stricter gun
laws in theory, they do support them in practice, with significantly
higher percentages of respondents supporting an actual stricter gun law
(the hi-cap magazine ban) than supporting "more strict" laws in general:

Misty Cook is blonde, rosy cheeked and pretty, but the sweet-looking
mother of one is also the ex-girlfriend of Wade Michael Page, the gunman who brutally killed six Sikh worshipers
in Milwaukee temple on Sunday. Although police say Cook is not a
suspect in the shootings, they were worried enough about her connections
to Page this weekend that they went to the restaurant where she worked
and, after searching her apartment, arrested her on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon.

In addition to Misty Cook’s felony rap sheet, she is also one of
thousands of women in the United States who are a part of or support
white supremacist organizations, according to the Anti-Defamation
League. Misty supported Skinhead groups, including the white power
groups that Wade Page followed and the ex-couple had in common. One of
those groups, the Hammerskins, pledges to live by the 14 words: “We
must secure the existence of our people and a future for White
Children.”

It’s easy to assume that only men like Page are a part of a dark and
secretive culture that espouses violence and hate against minorities in
our country and sometimes even acts on it. But the ADL estimates that
between 30 percent and 40 percent of the roughly 100,000 people who
support white supremacist group are women.

A bat chain refers to the chain that hangs down from a signal post on a
train line. The signal device that was pulled down was called a bat and
different bats had different colours to signal the train driver as to
the condition of the track ahead, or whether the train could
proceed,etc.

The bat chain puller was the person who set the signals
for the approaching train according to track status reports received by
telegraph.

The song BCP probably metaphorically refers to the fact
that this job is obsolete in the world of train spotters in this
automated world.

A chain with yellow lights
That glistens like oil beads
On its slick smooth trunk
That trails behind on tracks, and thumps
A wing hangs limp and retreats

Bat chain puller
Puller puller

Bulbs shoot from its snoot
And vanish into darkness
It whistles like a root snatched from dry earth
Sodbustin' rakes with grey dust claws
Announces its coming in the morning
This train with grey tubes
That houses people's very thoughts and belongings.

Bat chain puller
Puller puller

This train with grey tubes that houses people's thoughts,
Their very remains and belongings.
A grey cloth patch
Caught with four threads
In the hollow wind of its stacks
Ripples felt fades and grey sparks clacks,
Lunging the cushioned thickets.
Pumpkins span the hills
With orange crayola patches.
Green inflated trees
Balloon up into marshmallow soot
That walks away in forty circles,
Caught in grey blisters
With twinkling lights and green sashes
Uuh
Pulled by rubber dolphins with gold yawning mouths
That blister and break in agony
In souls of rust
They kill gold sawdust into dust.

The stepfather of a 4-year-old Woodbridge boy who found a loaded
handgun and accidentally shot himself has been arrested on a child
cruelty charge, Prince William County police said.

The boy, Kyrell Kyyon McNeill, climbed into a family member’s truck on July 25, found the loaded
weapon and shot himself in the head. Jasmine Darnell Matthews, 27,
Kyrell’s stepfather, has been charged with cruelty and injuries to
children for leaving the loaded gun “in another family member’s
unsecured vehicle,” according to a police statement.

Why is it that sometimes the gun owner is charged and other times he isn't? Can you see any obvious difference?

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Disdain for criminals with guns is such that we tend to be very lenient when judging the actions of a lawful gun owner who prevents an armed robbery.

For me, the first criterion has to be the determination of whether there is lethal threat. That's often a difficult call. I don't subscribe to the overly simplistic view that all criminals with guns pose a lethal threat. But, even if you place the bar that low, once the armed criminals are fleeing, all gun play must cease. Once you've shot or shot at an armed robber and he's running away for his life, you cannot keep shooting. You cannot pursue and continue shooting. That's criminal behavior.

In addition throughout the action, the defensive shooter must adhere strictly to the 4 Rules of Gun Safety. You can't shoot at the bad guys in a crowded place while running and expect to comply with Rule Number 4, and that counts even if there is lethal threat.

What's your opinion? Did the guy in the video seem like a safe and responsible gun owner?

A 20-month-old child was shot in the leg after a gun in a nearby garage was unintentionally fired, police said. The child’s doctor told police the shooting, which occurred around
2:30 p.m. Tuesday, appeared accidental and said he saw no signs of
abuse.

According to police reports, someone had brought the gun over as
collateral to borrow money from a family member that lived at the home
in the 800 block of Granger Avenue. The home’s resident said he didn’t want the gun, but the visitor was
showing him how the firearm worked in the garage when it went off,
authorities said.

The bullet apparently penetrated two walls before striking the child,
who was in the backyard, in the leg. The injuries weren’t life
threatening, police said.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

It has now come to light that the college psychiatrist who had been treating the (alleged) shooter in the Aurora, Colorado theater showing the latest Batman movie had alerted law enforcement that James Holmes presented a danger to others weeks before the shooting.

Under 'may issue' practice, law enforcement can be more responsive to known dangers presented by the mentally ill acquiring firearms, and deny them permits. Under 'may issue' regulation, denial of permits can be challenged, and law enforcement then has to demonstrate that they had a reasonable and justifiable basis for the denial. There has not been a problem with may issue regulation abuse of authority in denying permits to individuals who are stalkers, domestic abusers, criminals, drug users, or who have known patterns of behavior that are violent as part of mental illness. Under shall issue, law enforcement cannot prevent dangerous mentally ill individuals or other known violent individuals who have made threats to others from acquiring weapons. Under 'shall issue' the requirement is a court proceeding, which is far less common and which can take a very long time to occur, and where the level of danger required for a decision is much more demanding and difficult to prove.

In the case of Jared Loughner for example, his college required him to withdraw, and not return unless he had obtained a psychiatric clearance that he was not a threat to himself or others. Loughner withdrew rather than submit to a psychiatric examination. Law enforcement had been made aware of the threat presented by Loughner, including sending not one, but two law enforcement officers to deliver the letter from the college to Loughner and his parents. However, law enforcement could not prohibit Loughner from firearm ownership despite their knowledge of his presenting a danger to himself and others.

And of course, the NRA has made it a priority that the large capacity magazines favored by most mass shooters cannot be prohibited either.

Between January 8, 2011 when Jared Loughner shot and killed 6 unarmed, innocent people, and wounded another 13 in Tucson, Arizona and the shooting in Aurora, Colorado (allegedly) by James Holmes in July 2012, there were 60 mass shootings. Many of those involved assault style weapons, expanded capacity magazines, accumulations of arsenals of weapons, body armor, and large quantities of ammunition, and individuals known to law enforcement to present a danger to others who law enforcement was unable to prevent legal acquisition of the weapons used in the mass shootings.

Both ordinary citizens and law enforcement are often the victims in those mass shootings by the dangerously mentally ill, as in the case of the shootings on New Years day 2012 where Benjamin Colton Barnes in Washington state shot multiple people at a party, and then subsequently shot and killed a park ranger and injured three others. Barnes had been the subject of a restraining order, which included notifying the court that he was dangerously violent and had shown signs of PTSD. Barnes had a personal arsenal of weapons, including multiple military assault-style weapons, large quantities of hand guns, ballistic protection.

Law enforcement under shall issue permitting is unable to prevent that acquisition.

In May 2012, Ian Stawicki, who had a long history of mental illness, and who was known to law enforcement to be dangerously violent, shot and killed five people in Seattle, Washington, and shot but only injured another, before committing suicide. Stawicki had accumulated, legally, six hand guns prior to the shooting, including a high ammunition capacity pistol he used in the shootings.

An article below describes the frustration of those who know dangerously mentally ill people, but are unable to get them treatment when they resist that treatment as part of their illness. It also describes how law enforcement is often aware weeks, months or even years in advance of mass shootings of the deterioration of the mental states of these people.

It is ridiculous that law enforcement has their hands tied by NRA-pushed laws from preventing these obviously dangerous people from acquiring firearms legally - often the most lethal possible firearms, like assault rifles or high powered semi-automatic handguns with large capacity magazines that allow them to shoot a lot of people before stopping to reload.

from MyNorthwest.com (97.3 FM) on Stawicki and other dangerously mentally ill people; the title is as true of law enforcement as it is of the families of the mentally ill.:

Families of mentally ill forced to deal with 'ticking time bombs'

For Ian Stawicki, years of mental illness ended when he took his own life on a quiet sidewalk in West Seattle. He had just carried out a shooting rampage that left five dead and one in critical condition.

Over the years he had become increasingly violent and prone to fits of rage, according to family members who saw the warning signs but felt there was nothing they could do. A police report from 2008 seems to signal the start of his deteriorating mental state.According to the documents, Stawicki had given his girlfriend a bloody nose and destroyed most of her personal possessions.

"The victim thought that sometime in December the suspect suddenly changed his personality," the police report states. "Although the suspect always 'had a temper,' he began breaking the victim's belonging when he flew into his rages. This behavior frightened the victim and she resolved to call 911 if it continued."

But while those closest to Stawicki knew he was in desperate need of help, he refused to accept it.

"I know it can feel for people as if there is no help out there, and they have tried things and they haven't worked," said Karin Rogers with Sound Mental Health in Seattle. "And that is very frustrating and very scary."

Rogers said families often struggle for years to get through to loved ones, often to no avail.

Julia, who wished to have her last name withheld, has a sister who has struggled with mental illness since the two were children. She understands all too well what the family of Ian Stawicki must have gone through.

"I wonder how many of us thought, 'Yeah. Yeah, that would be my loved one,'" she said of Wednesday's massacre at the hands of Stawicki. "I can't even imagine how difficult it must be for them [...] They're not the only family."

Julia's sister has lived with bipolar disorder for years, she said. While the family was hesitant to accept that she had a mental illness, it became clear when she threatened to kill strangers.

"As much as I knew she had problems, I didn't realize they were that extreme," Julia said of her sister.

While the family convinced her to agree to a 72-hour psychiatric hold, the stay did nothing to improve her mental state. Julia's sister refused further help and refused to take medication.

"We can't make her do anything," she said. "Our resources are exhausted. We don't know what else to do."

It is all Julia can do now to protect herself and her family. She does not allow her sister to keep guns in her home, out of fear that she is capable of murder.

"If she was armed, we would all be gone," Julia said. She called her sister a "ticking time bomb."

It is the same way the family of Ian Stawicki must have felt. His younger brother, Andrew Stawicki, told The Seattle Times he could see the bloodshed coming.

"It's no surprise to me this happened," he told the newspaper. "We could see this coming. Nothing good is going to come with that much anger inside of you."

His father, Walter Stawicki, told The Times on Thursday he regrets the family didn't do more to intervene, even if it meant lying to get him committed.

These mass shootings don't come as 'a surprise', although the pro-gun crowd likes to feign both alarm and astonishment. People know there are problems with dangerously mentally ill people in advance, often including law enforcement. However there is usually nothing they are able to do legally about that knowledge. That includes law enforcement being unable to prevent the dangerously mentally ill from legally acquiring firearms, under shall issue - people like Stawicki, Barnes, Loughner, and Holmes.

Shall issue is deficient and badly defective; pro-gun advocates look at these mass shootings, have it called to their attention the purchases of weapons and other gear were legal, and they try to blame everyone but the legislation they push through for shall issue. They try to blame the mental health care system, which their right wing politics hamstring with inadequate funding. They try to blame law enforcement, as they attack their public unions, and whom they hamstring with shall issue, putting law enforcement in direct danger when they have to confront these armed people as a result of these mass shootings. They blame everyone else, but the real blame falls on the pro-2nd Amendment gun advocates for the shall issue rather than the may issue regulation. They make it possible for the legal acquisition of these firearms by the dangerously mentally ill and others.

Blame the NRA and blame ALEC, and blame the right wing politicians they buy and conservatives who blindly support them and vote for them. Follow the money when looking to assign blame and responsibility; every time shootings like this occur, gun sales and ammo sales go up. That profits the gun manufacturers, and gun retailers like WalMart. They broke a system that worked, 'may issue', and replaced it with one that was more dangerous, but more profitable for them as a special interest.

Now it turns out that the psychiatrist at the college in Colorado had also alerted law enforcement that there was a very real danger to others and himself from James Holmes, prior to the period of time during which he legally purchased the ballistic protection, assault style rifle, expanded capacity magazine, Glock hand guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, gas mask and other equipment used in the attack and in rigging his apartment to explode.

James Holmes' psychiatrist contacted police before the Aurora shooting, according to ABC News report

The psychiatrist treating James Holmes told a University of Colorado police officer that she was worried about her patient weeks before he allegedly killed 12 people in an Aurora movie theater.

The allegation that Dr. Lynne Fenton warned authorities about Holmes' potential to harm others -- reported by ABC News -- is the second time she told others he was possibly dangerous.

Fenton, a member of the university's threat assessment team, reportedly told other committee members that Holmes, a Ph.D neuroscience student potentially jeopardized campus safety.

Though ABC's anonymous sources said Fenton took her concerns to the university officer "several weeks before" the July 20 rampage that wounded 58 others, it's unknown how the cop handled the tip.

Fenton talked with several members of the Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment team, too, but the full committee never launched an investigation into Holmes because the 24-year-old dropped out of the doctoral program about six weeks before the attack.

When events follow a pattern, over and over, and when one group or one special interest area of business benefits over and over after these mass shootings, and when they make it possible for these events to happen the way they do, it cannot be considered a coincidence or accidental that we have these mass shootings occurring so often. It happens for a reason, and that reason is profit. That ignorant and easily manipulated conservative voters are deluded into helping this happen is the shame and failure of their political ideology. This is not a bi-partisan phenomenon. It is a conservative-authored problem.

Quite literally from another place and time, Britain in the 1970s. Rumours were floating about of right wingers who were arming up should there be a full fledged swing to Socialism. Rumours about assassinating Tony Benn because he was too socialist. And I mean real socialism, not the bullshit accusations being tossed about by the loonie right in the US about "Barack Hoosain Obama"!

Forget
for a moment that wearing the image of the American flag violates flag
code. (From section 176: Respect for the flag: "d) The flag should never
be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery." You're welcome.)
Let's look at some of the things where America is at the top of the
list.

1) Obesity

2) Divorces

3) Prisoners

4) Defense spending

5) School shootings

6) Child abuse

7) Gun violence

8) Student loan debt

9) Pornography

10) Fast food sales

Yeehah?

Do you think some US athletes are reluctant to wear the flag in patriotic celebration? It is the traditional thing to do.

The security firm
formerly known as Blackwater has agreed to pay a fine of $7.5 million to
avoid US prosecution for smuggling arms, the Justice Department said in
a statement Tuesday.

The company, now known as Academi, will pay the fine in addition to a previously agreed $42 million settlement with the State Department over violations of the Arms Export Control Act, the Justice Department said.

Under the agreement, the company
previously known as Blackwater Worldwide and as Xe Services "admits
certain facts" following a five-year, multi-agency federal
investigation, said Thomas Walker, a prosecutor in North Carolina.

The probe "covered an array of
criminal allegations," some "involving the manufacture and shipment of
short-barreled rifles, fully automatic weapons, armored helicopters,
armored personnel carriers," said the statement.

An 8-year-old Point Township boy suffered a gunshot wound in an accidental shooting late Sunday morning.

Point
Township Police Chief Joshua VanKirk said the victim was transported to
Geisinger Medical Center in Danville by his father following the
shooting that is believed to have occurred between 11:30 and 11:40 a.m.
The exact location of the shooting was not revealed by police.

VanKirk
said hospital personnel initially contacted Mahoning Township police
about the shooting victim before the incident was referred to Point
Township police at about noon when it was learned the shooting occurred
there.

VanKirk said the investigation indicates the incident was an accidental shooting. He said no foul play is suspected.

What does "no foul play" mean? Isn't the fact that a little boy was shot with a gun evidence of "foul play?"

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

From the Daily Kos, which I am quoting in total since it is too accurate as to how these things are dealt with in the States:

Here we go again. Another mass shooting, this time a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.Here's what's going to happen:1. The police and the emergency respondents will do their absolute best to investigate the crime and assist the wounded. That's actually happening right now. The truth is, our police, although they have their issues, are generally pretty good at what they do, and our EMTs and emergency care facilities are excellent.2. There will be substantial media attention, the extent of which will depend on the number of people who were shot. If enough people are shot, a special mournful dirge will be written (as it was with the Aurora shootings)3. In a day or so, various politicians will state that "our hearts and prayers are with the victims and their families."4. Many people will find themselves without medical insurance to cover their injuries, and will have to beg the community to pay for their bills, or the medical providers to reduce or waive them.5. Some freakin' jackass like Allen West will claim that if he had been there packing heat, he could have shot the perpetrator dead. And there will be "other blame the victims for being unarmed"6. The gun industry will benefit as sales of whatever weapon was used here will go up. The more people who are killed the better the sales will be.7. People like me who criticize the ready availability of firearms capable of this type of mass killings will be criticized as "politicizing" the event.8. The whole thing will be forgotten by the general public (but certainly not the victims) in two weeks, max.9. Another massacre will occur. Repeat steps 1 through 8.

“The two juveniles were home alone when the 12 year-old boy went into
his parent’s bedroom and retrieved his father’s AR-15 style rifle,”
said Matt Nicholass with LMPD. “The boy brought the rifle into the
living area of the home and began manipulating the gun. The rifle
accidentally discharged and struck his 17 year-old sister in the
shoulder while she was lying on the couch watching television.”

The 17 year-old victim was transported to the hospital by the paramedics for treatment. Her injuries are not life-threatening.

"This is still an ongoing investigation at this time and we are uncertain if charges will be filed,” Nicholass concluded.

Would someone explain to me how charges could be uncertain in a case like this? In California of all places, doesn't a case like this violate some laws?

Tattoos on the body of the slain Sikh temple gunman and certain biographical details led theFBI to treat the attack at a Milwaukee-area temple as an act of domestic terrorism, officials said Sunday.

The designation of “domestic terrorism” under the FBI’s rubric — which
was not applied to the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting — implies a
political agenda. The FBI defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of
force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a
government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in
furtherance of political or social objectives.”

I know, there are 100 million gun owners and the Sikh-hating mass murderers are extremely rare. Isn't that the pro-gun rationale?

And, of course, if he hadn't owned any guns, he could have killed them with a jeweled ceremonial dagger. The gun was just a tool.

What else, oh yeah, he was stopped by someone with a gun. It could have been much worse.

I'm sure we'll see those excuses and others, anything to divert us from the fact that too many unfit people have guns and not enough is being done about that.

One of the most striking things about shooting incidents in America…is how common they are. Another striking thing is how often the media fails to note the previous point, or to explore what that means—or what might be done about it.

Late last night, a gunman walked into a movie theater in a Denver suburb, killed 12 and injured 50. Two days earlier a gunman opened fire outside a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in an incident in which at least 17 were hurt. These were not really so exceptional. Every year, about 100,000 Americans are victims of gun violence, and every week, people calmly enter our schools, our workplaces, our leisure gathering spots and open fire on innocent bystanders.

Whenever we tweet or post about these, often the only people we hear from are those who say we need more guns not less. “If I had been there with my gun….” The problem, of course, is the public at large is being asked to arm everyone and trust that, while the rest of us cower, “the right people” will quickly dispatch “the wrong people” in the modern equivalent of the Shootout at the OK Corral. No mention of whether the teacher is supposed to be armed…when a nut walks into a preschool and starts firing away.

Given that there have been 125 Mass Killings since Columbine, you think some serious solutions would be mentioned, yet it seems that there is the consistent response of inaction, or worse, the loosening of restrictions which make it easier for these incidents to happen.

via TTAG where of course they had nothing but praise for the shooter and nothing but criticism for the cops who expressed concern about civilians defending themselves.

My opinion is, although wild shooting in defense of oneself is not recommended, and chasing after the fleeing bad guys is wrong, this was a legitimate DGU.

Did it save a life, though? Had it not been for her defensive action, would she have ended up dead?

No one could know the answer to those questions, but as was mentioned in our other discussion, most encounters do not end up with dead people, so it's not right to claim that Defensive Gun Uses save as many lives as some people like to say.

Marvin Wilson, with an I.Q. of 61, is scheduled to be put to death in
Texas on Tuesday. His execution would directly contradict the Supreme
Court’s 2002 ruling
in Atkins v. Virginia that “the mentally retarded should be
categorically excluded from execution” because of “their disabilities in
areas of reasoning, judgment and control of their impulses.” The court
should accept Mr. Wilson’s case for review
and end Texas’s illegal defiance of its explicit holding that the death
penalty for the mentally retarded is unconstitutional.

What do you think? Is this a national disgrace, or what?

Maybe it would be better to call it a Texas disgrace, since they are the most likely to partake in this travesty of justice.

A man accidentally shot himself in the finger at the shooting range of Superior Pawn in Virginia Beach Saturday afternoon.

A
spokeswoman for Virginia Beach police told WAVY.com that a man in his
50s was on the gun range when he accidentally shot the tip of his
finger.

It is my opinion that a man who does that should lose his right to own guns.

Does that sound too harsh? Why?

The gun-rights activists are continually telling us we cannot take people's rights away because of what they might do in the future, They refuse to consider mental health screening for fear that it'll be abused and unfairly restrict responsible people. But how can they justify continuing to allow people who have proven themselves to be negligent to own guns?

For more than 200 years, the men who most needed personal sovereignty were slave owners. Their demands - for work, sex or amusement - carried the force of law on their farms and plantations, in the sense that enslaved people who denied those demands could be whipped, beaten and, yes, shot. Most masters preferred persuasion, but they retained the right of violent force rather than granting that power to the larger social good as expressed in law. As a result, they loved the local and state governments that they controlled and hated all other governments, be they British or federal.

The other major demand for sovereignty came from frontier leaders and communities terrorized by native peoples. American history is littered with frontier violence, much of which took place outside the purview of the national government.

Isn't that a hoot? Slavery and frontier vigilantism are the parents of today's cherished individual sovereignty.

Loughner, 23, is
charged with 49 criminal offenses including first-degree murder over the
shooting rampage, which wounded 13 people. A not guilty plea was
entered on his behalf last year.

The Wall Street
Journal, which also reported that Loughner would plead guilty, said
Tuesday's mental status hearing had been changed to a change-of-plea
hearing, citing an official familiar with the case.

If U.S. District
Judge Larry Burns were to determine at Tuesday's hearing that he was fit
for trial, Loughner - who is being forcibly medicated to treat his
psychosis - could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Mentally ill people belong in hospitals, not jails, and they certainly should not be put to death.

What could be clearer than a case in which the authorities have to medicate the suspect to treat his psychosis before he's even capable of standing trial?

The NRA, the gun manufacturers and their lobby machine are more responsible for this crime than this pathetic, sick man. That's where our focus should be, on the root of the problem.